"The Israelis were so grateful for the cooperation, they offered us a deal. We would let their agents work undercover abroad as members of our diplomatic corps and they would pass on to us any information they acquired which might affect Monteverde.

"It's been a great arrangement. My uncle had dismantled Monteverde's secret police and wanted to avoid establishing an intelligence service which could ever be used again for the kinds of abuses perpetrated by the junta.

"On the other hand, every nation needs intelligence. It's suicidal to pretend you don't. So we got the best of both worlds. We have the finest secret service in the world working with us at virtually no cost. And while other countries sometimes wonder whether a Monteverde diplomat might have connections with some of the drug cartels of our neighbors, they would never suspect that one of our interpreters is an officer in the Mosad."